Video: 2017 Alfa Romeo Giulia Review: First Impressions

Alfa came swinging right out the gate, introducing the Giulia's top performer, the 505-horsepower turbocharged Giulia Quadrifoglio, not to be confused with Quatro Formaggi, which is the best flavor at Tony's thin-crust. We're here at the auto show with the car. Let's check it out. Now, the Quadrifoglio's fenders, doors, suspension components, those are all aluminum weld, the hood itself, the roof, the drive shaft. Those are all carbon fiber, even the front splitter, the rear spoiler also carbon fiber that helps the Quadrifoglio tip the scales around 3,600 pounds Alfa Romeo says. About as much as the BMW M3. About 400 pounds lighter than a Mercedes AMG C63. Now under the hood, the Quadrifoglio has a 2.9 liter 90 degree V6. It's turbocharged, Good for a 505 horsepower, 443 pounds feet of torque. It drives the rear wheels through a torque vectoring rear differential and a six speed manual transmission. Good for 0 to 60 in just 3.8 seconds Alpha Romeo says. Incidentally, that's just a tick faster than manufacturer estimated times for the M3 and C63S. Now we're at an auto show. So there's a big caveat because cabin materials often change between what you see at the auto show and what actually hits dealerships. A some cheaper stuff, kind of lower down here in the new Giulia, but overall, a very kind of lush design here actually. Very befitting for a kind of an Italian alternative to a German sports sedan. Nice swooping dashboard here in this Quadrifoglio, has real leather here on the upper doors, the upper part of the dash, an 8.8 inch center display, it just kind of tucks artfully into the dashboard itself here behind this sort of jet black screen. It's got its whole own interface here. In a lot of, kind of Fiat Chrysler products, Alfa Romeo being one of those brands, you get kind of the same infotainment system here. Actually, this is all different. This uses this wheel here as a controller, pretty easy to use. We wish there was a back button somewhere around the wheel itself, but overall not too bad. We'll have to see how it works in kind of the real world. The Giulia Quadrifoglio starts around $70,000. That's right in the territory of cars like the BMW M3 and the Mercedes AMG C63. Now Alpha says a full lineup of Giulia's will be offered. That includes all wheel drive and even an available 2 liter turbo charged four cylinder. Stay tuned for more details. This car goes on sale in summer of 2016.